186. Do You Want Some?

With teammates disappearing one after another, the sudden appearance of the Saint's Remains in the dark and gloomy underground labyrinth is rather eerie.

It just stared at Lu Ban, Motionless, like a cat observing its prey.

After a moment of silence, Lu Ban felt that they couldn't keep dragging this on.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out an energy bar.

Do you want some?

The Saint's Remains stared intently at Lu Ban's hand, or rather, there were no eyes in them, only the head following the movement, like an owl.

It did not answer.

Lu Ban disassembled the energy bar and carefully approached the other party, holding the energy bar, which was exuding the aroma of oil and nuts, close to the Saint's Remains.

It tilted its head, as if it didn't understand what Lu Ban had done.

"Does it look like they're not going to eat?"

Lu Ban had initially thought that since it hadn't seen anyone for over a hundred years and there didn't seem to be any food around, it might be very hungry, but now it seemed that it had no interest in food.

Does this mean that people stop feeling hungry after they die?

Lu Ban felt he had made a groundbreaking discovery worthy of a Nobel Prize.

Looking at the energy bar in his hand, Lu Ban thought for a moment. If he just put it back like this, it would definitely be crushed in his bag if he did any strenuous exercise later, which would be a hassle to clean up.

So he ate it himself.

Click, click, click—

The sound of chewing echoed through the ancient passageway.

The Saint's Remains also mimicked Lu Ban, crunching and munching on the air in his hands.

"You've lived here for so long, do you know where my companions are?"

Lu Ban asked a question.

"******"

The Saint's Remains answered.

"I see. Then can you help me find them?"

"*****"

The Saint's Remains answered again.

"So, if you help me find my teammates, I'll treat you to pumpkin, a really delicious pumpkin."

Lu Ban persisted relentlessly.

"****"

The Saint's Remains tilted their head.

Then, it disappeared from its original position, as if it had been erased by something.

Then, the white figure appeared in the deeper passage, as if waiting for Lu Ban to pass by.

"Then I have no choice but to keep moving forward."

As Lu Ban moved forward, the paintings on the wall gradually became clearer in the [True Sight], perhaps because the closer one got to the depths, the less interference from the outside world there was.

He couldn't help but admire the paintings.

Lu Ban had probably read about the different stages of human painting in some casual book. The paintings on this wall had a strong religious overtone, and the figures had formed a fixed pattern with obvious symbolic features. Simply put, they used several symbols to indicate that the thing was a person, rather than the style of primitive paintings that relied purely on lines and depicted things as they were.

Therefore, such paintings can reveal certain stories.

The story itself isn't particularly remarkable; it's simply a collection of fragments about monarchs' conquests, development, and governance. However, due to the emergence of Crystal Core Disease, these individuals all have varying degrees of crystallization within them.

Lu Ban noticed that there were no depictions of crystals on the king and priests, which meant that they might not have the symptoms of Crystal Core Disease.

He thought of the Saint's Remains; indeed, no crystals could be found on the outside.

Perhaps the sage found a way to suppress his own Crystal Core Disease, which is why he was able to live for so many years.

As Lu Ban continued down, he saw the painting begin to change, with an altar appearing frequently and scenes of sacrifice emerging in the painting.

First, the passage to the underworld must be opened. Then, the sacrificial offerings are driven into the passage. Next, Hades, who is hiding in the underworld, will awaken. He will wander in his kingdom, searching for the sacrificial offerings, and after satisfying them, he will leave and bestow treasures upon the people.

These are very primitive belief stories. In ancient societies, people often personified natural phenomena, turning them into various kinds of gods, with death being particularly prominent.

When deities with abstract concepts appeared later, it was already the period of religious belief.

"Is this the realm of Hades?"

"Could it be that you are Hades?"

Lu Ban glanced at the Saint's Remains standing by the wall.

The murals had come to an end; those rather primitive and utterly cruel scenes ended in complete darkness.

Lu Ban arrived at the end of the passage and saw a circular hall.

He walked into the hall and saw a person standing not far away.

It's Iron Fist.

His clothes were somewhat tattered, and his right fist had crystallized into an arm guard that extended to his shoulder, making him look like a powerful warrior.

Iron Fist looked like he had been in a fight, and there was some blood of an unknown creature on his body.

Beside Iron Fist was Faceless, whose cheeks were scarred and covered half of his face with uneven, crystalline edges.

Everyone else, including Echo and Flash, entered the rotunda.

Except for Xiya.

Lu Ban glanced around and saw that the circular hall connected ten paths, while the other paths were dark and seemed deserted.

"I was halfway there when you disappeared, and then a bug appeared. It took me a little while to deal with it."

The crystal on Iron Fist's hand gradually shrank back, returning to the shape of a normal fist.

It seems that the Transcendents in the wasteland spread the crystals on their bodies when they use their abilities, which is probably why the Crystal Core Disease is aggravated.

Me too.

The faceless man said something.

The other two nodded as well.

Where are your companions?

Iron Fist inquired, implying that Xiya might have died from the insect attack.

"She should be fine."

Lu Ban replied.

He felt that Xiya's combat power was definitely stronger than his own. He was lucky that he didn't encounter any monsters, but even if Xiya encountered a bunch of insects, she would probably be able to escape.

The only thing that might restrain her is to avoid using too much force and destroying the entire underground passage.

Boom—

No sooner had she finished speaking than an explosion was heard, and a cloud of ash rose from the passage next to Lu Ban. Then, Xiya ran out.

Before she could even make out who it was, she rolled over, her hand, clad in a steel glove, instinctively reaching up. Only then did she realize it was Lu Ban.

Are you real?

Xiya asked a question.

"Three handshakes".

Lu Ban casually replied with a word, which put her at ease.

"I encountered several insects just now. I was worried that the magic would be too powerful and cause this place to collapse, so it took me a Kung Fu to deal with them."

Xiya's armor was covered in the filthy slime of insects, but her face was spotless, creating a distorted beauty.

Where is this place?

"Xiya asked."

"It's an altar."

Lu Ban pointed to the center.

"The real altar."

In the center of the circular room, a huge pool was filled with blood, which was coming from a funnel-shaped object in the ceiling from which blood was constantly seeping out.

Where did this blood come from?

The faceless one was slightly confused.

boom--

Just then, they heard the sound of heavy objects crashing from the passageways. They hurriedly turned around to look and found that the road was blocked by Stone.

"These are the paths that the original sacrifices were meant to take. They would come here, be imprisoned, and finally become sacrifices offered to the gods."

Lu Ban described what he saw on the mural.

"Gods? What gods?"

"Xiya asked."

"Right in the pool."

Lu Ban pointed, and everyone saw that the pool full of blood was making the sound of a mechanism turning. A small platform gradually rose from the blood pool, and on the platform were several round objects.

That's an egg.